Eleven months after the signature of an agreement-in-principle between Canada and the European Union (EU), the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement’s (CETA) final details will be released on September 25th in Ottawa during the Canada – EU summit, according to the last CETA press release on August 5th. German news broadcaster ARD posted recently a 519-page “leaked” document issued by the EU revealing first details of the so long-awaited trade deal. Canada expects the final document to be approximately 1,500 pages long. Despite its public release scheduled for the end of September 2014, it is likely to take another two years for the agreement to come into effect.

The initial negotiations starting approximately five years ago have caused many intense debates on both sides of the deal and despite of some criticism the agreement has been signed. CETA offers new opportunities not only for manufacturers and services providers but also consumer thanks to a tariff elimination and quota reduction. CETA opens doors to a 500-million European consumers market for Canadian businesses. These will also have access to procurement markets on EU and state levels. The deal is expected to bring more investments from EU to Canada as well, therefore creating more business and job opportunities.

CETA is often described as a historical moment for international trade in Canada as it potentially opens more opportunities than NAFTA did and it allows Canadian economy to be more diversified and less reliant on its main trading partner, the U.S.

Both, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada-West (ICCC) and the recently established European Chamber of Commerce in Canada – West (ECCC), encourage Canadian companies to start positioning themselves in strategic places that will permit them to take advantage of wide-ranging new business opportunities arising from CETA.

Stay tuned for upcoming CETA related events and EU-Canada business development assistance and trade initiatives organized or coordinated by ICCC and ECCC in Western Canada and Europe.

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A History of Economic Cooperation

Canada and the EU have a long history of economic cooperation. Composed of 27 Member States with a total population of over 500 million and a GDP of nearly $16.8 trillion in 2010, the EU is the world’s largest single common market, foreign investor and trader. As an integrated block, the EU represents Canada's second largest trading partner in goods and services. In 2010, Canadian goods and services exports to the EU totalled $49.1 billion, and imports from the EU amounted to $55.2 billion.